Exploratory engineering is a term coined by K. Eric Drexler to describe the process of designing and analyzing detailed hypothetical models of systems that are not feasible with current technologies or methods, but do seem to be clearly within the bounds of what science considers to be possible within the narrowly defined scope of operation of the hypothetical system model. It usually results in paper prototypes or video prototypes or computer models that are as convincing as possible, to those that know the science, given the lack of experimental confirmation. By analogy with protoscience, it might be considered a form of protoengineering. Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is an American engineer best known for popularizing the potential of hypothetical molecular nanotechnology. ... Paper prototyping is a widely used method in the User Centered Design process, a process that helps developers to create a software that meets the users expectations and needs - here especially for designing and testing user interfaces. ... A computer simulation or a computer model is a computer program that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Due to the difficulty and necessity of anticipating results in such areas as genetic modification, climate change, molecular engineering, and megascale engineering, parallel fields such as bioethics, climate engineering and hypothetical molecular nanotechnology sometimes emerge to develop and examine hypotheses, define limits, and express potential solutions to the anticipated technological problems. Proponents of exploratory engineering contend that it is an appropriate initial approach to such problems. Genetic engineering, genetic modification (GM), and gene splicing (once in widespread use but now deprecated) are terms for the process of manipulating genes in an organism, usually outside of the organisms normal reproductive process. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years Climate change refers to the variation in the Earths global climate or in regional climates over time. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Megascale engineering is defined as engineering structures on an enormous scale. ... Bioethics is the ethics of biological science and medicine. ... Climate engineering is a term coined by the Global Commons Institute to mean the sundry assortment of proposals to, for example, deflect solar radiation with mirrors or seed the oceans with massive amounts of iron filings. ... It has been suggested that Molecular engineering be merged into this article or section. ...

Engineering is concerned with the design of a solution to a practical problem. A scientist may ask "why?" and proceed to research the answer to the question. By contrast, engineers want to know how to solve a problem, and how to implement that solution. Exploratory engineering often posits that a highly detailed solution exists, and explores the putative characteristics of such a solution, while holding in abeyance the question of how to implement that solution. If a point can be reached where the attempted implementation of the solution is addressed using the principles of engineering science, the activity transitions from protoengineering to actual engineering, and results in success or failure to implement the design. Engineering is the application of scientific and mathematical principles to develop economical solutions to technical problems, creating products, facilities, and structures that are useful to people. ... The physicist Albert Einstein is probably the most famous scientist of our time. ... Engineering is the application of scientific and technical knowledge to solve human problems. ...

Unlike the scientific method which relies on peer reviewed experiments which attempt to prove or disprove a falsifiable hypothesis, exploratory engineering relies on peer review, simulation and other methods employed by scientists, but applies them to some hypothetical artifact, a specific and detailed hypothesized design or process, rather than to an abstract model or theory. Because of the inherent lack of experimental falsifiability in exploratory engineering, its practitioners must take particular care to avoid falling into practices analogous to cargo cult science, pseudoscience, and pathological science. Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a scholarly process used in the publication of manuscripts and in the awarding of funding for research. ... In the scientific method, an experiment (Latin: ex-+-periri, of (or from) trying), is a set of actions and observations, performed in the context of solving a particular problem or question, to support or falsify a hypothesis or research concerning phenomena. ... A hypothesis (from Greek ) is a suggested explanation of a phenomenon or reasoned proposal suggesting a possible correlation between multiple phenomena. ... Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a scholarly process used in the publication of manuscripts and in the awarding of funding for research. ... Wooden mechanical horse simulator during WWI. A simulation is an imitation of some real thing, state of affairs, or process. ... Richard Feynman during his famous cargo cult science speech at the Caltech 1974 commencement address. ... Phrenology is regarded today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... Pathological science is a neologism to pejoratively describe the pursuit of pseudoscientific claims as being irrational to the point where they like a pathology or disease. ...

Exploratory engineering has its critics, who dismiss the activity as mere armchair speculation, albeit with computer assist. A boundary which would take exploratory engineering out of the realm of mere speculation and define it as a realistic design activity is often indiscernible to such critics, and at the same time is often inexpressible by the proponents of exploratory engineering. While both critics and proponents often agree that much of the highly detailed simulation effort in the field may never result in a physical device, the dichotomy between the two groups is exemplified by the situation in which proponents of molecular nanotechnology contend that many complicated molecular machinery designs will be realizable after an unspecified "assembler breakthrough" envisioned by K. Eric Drexler, while critics contend that this attitude embodies wishful thinking equivalent to that in the famous Sydney Harris cartoon (ISBN 0-913232-39-4) "And then a miracle occurs" published in the American Scientist magazine. In summary the critics contend that a hypothetical model which is both self-consistent and consistent with the laws of science concerning its operation, in the absence of a path to build the device modeled, provides no evidence that the desired device can be built. Proponenets contend that there are so many potential ways to build the desired device that surely at least one of those ways will not display a critical flaw preventing the device from being built. It has been suggested that Molecular engineering be merged into this article or section. ... Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is an American engineer best known for popularizing the potential of hypothetical molecular nanotechnology. ... Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) was an American journalist for the Chicago Daily News and later the Chicago Sun-Times. ...

Both proponents and critics often point to science fiction stories as the origin of exploratory engineering. On the positive side of the science fiction ledger, the ocean-going submarine, the telecommunications satellite, and other inventions were anticipated in such stories before they could be built. On the negative side of the same ledger, other science fiction devices such as the space elevator may be forever impossible because of basic strength of materials issues or due to other difficulties, either anticipated or unanticipated. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... German UC-1 class World War I submarine A model of Günther Priens Unterseeboot 47 (U-47), German WWII Type VII diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine Inside of the Argonaute, showing the typical obstructed, tiny space of a post-WWII diesel attack submarine. ... U.S. military MILSTAR communications satellite A communications satellite (sometimes abbreviated to comsat) is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purposes of telecommunications using radio at microwave frequencies. ... A space elevator would consist of a cable anchored to the Earths surface, reaching into space. ... It has been suggested that Tensile strength be merged into this article or section. ...